<p>By MARK SCHULMAN</p><p>Times-News Staff Writer</p><p>Excessive rainfall caused a sinkhole to form Tuesday under Howard Gap Road, which was closed for about 24 hours, said Aaron Powell, N.C. Department of Transportation resident engineer.</p><p>NCDOT has been working on straightening that area of the road, and an inspector noticed the road beginning to sink.</p><p>“It kept getting worse,” Powell said. “It dropped one foot in an hour.”</p><p>The bottom of a drainage pipe under the road rusted out, creating an eight-by-sixfoot sinkhole.</p><p>One lane was closed off to traffic at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.</p><p>“It got to the point we had to close the road around four o'clock,” Powell said.</p><p>Crews filled the hole to support the road, Powell said, and the detour was lifted by 8 p.m. Wednesday There were no injuries, he added.</p><p>That stretch of roadwork should be completed by fall, and the area where the sinkhole was located no longer will be in use.</p><p>Reach Schulman at mark. schulman@blueridgenow.com.</p>